World News Sep 16

JERUSALEM (AP) -- Israel's prime minister says a policy of containment for Iran will not work because Tehran is guided by a "leadership of fanaticism." In an interview on NBC News' "Meet the Press" to be aired Sunday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also says he disagrees with those who argue that going to war with Iran would be worse than a nuclear Iran. "Iran is guided by a leadership with an unbelievable fanaticism," he said. "You want these fanatics to have nuclear weapons?" Washington wants to give diplomacy and sanctions more time to pressure Tehran to abandon its suspect nuclear work. But Netanyahu has warned repeatedly that Iran is perilously close to acquiring a nuclear bomb. Earlier this week, he criticized the U.S. specifically over its containment policy, saying peaceful methods are not working.

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Coalition military authorities in Afghanistan say the insurgents who attacked a British airfield in southwestern Afghanistan on Friday, killing two U.S. Marines, wore U.S. Army uniforms and destroyed six Harrier figher jets. They said in a statement Saturday that about 15 insurgents carried out the attack, describing the attack as well coordinated by insurgents who were "well equipped, trained and rehearsed." Fourteen of the 15 were killed. One was captured. They said attackers penetrated the base's perimeter and were armed with automatic rifles, rocket-propelled grenade launchers and suicide vests. Besides destroying six planes, they destroyed three refueling stations on the base and damaged six aircraft hangars. Coalition authorities have not yet identified the two Marines killed. Eight military members and one civilian contractor were also injured in the assault.

TUNIS, Tunisia (AP) -- Tunisia's governing moderate Islamist party condemned the attack on the U.S. Embassy in Tunis and the neighboring American school, saying Saturday that such violence threatens the country's progress toward democracy after decades of dictatorship. The embassy compound and school were surrounded by Tunisian police and army vehicles and personnel on Saturday, a day after several thousand demonstrators angry over a film that insults the Prophet Muhammad stormed the compound in Tunis. They tore down the American flag and raised an Islamic one, while looting and burning buildings. Four demonstrators died, including two following operations in the hospital, and 49 people were injured, according to Brahim Labassi, spokesman for the Ministry of Health. The attack was part of a wave of demonstrations across the Muslim world on Friday -- the Muslim day of prayer -- to protest the film, which was made in the United States. The embassy building itself -- a fort-like structure -- was untouched, but a gym and parking lot within the compound were ransacked and set alight as was the American school. The windows of the small building at the complex's entrance used to screen visitors were smashed. Several dozen cars in the parking lot were burned, sending up thick, black smoke. A reporter saw looters jimmying open car doors and taking whatever they could find inside before setting them on fire. On Saturday, some smoke was still rising from the smoldering scene. Two burned-out buses used to ferry children sat in front of the school, which is across the street from the embassy compound. Inside the building, the walls were blackened, papers were strewn about and glass from blown out windows was scattered on the floor. Ali Larayedh, Tunisia's minister of the interior, apologized for the attack Friday night on national television. "I recognize that we failed to protect the embassy and we should offer our apologies to the Americans,á he said, adding that an investigation has been opened. David Santiago, the head of security at the American Cooperative School of Tunis, also indicated that Tunisian security had fallen short. "The things you have in place is assuming that the Tunisian government is going to be there as well, that the authorities are going to back you up," he said Saturday. "So when those things are not there at all, then you are just out in the open. That's what is so terrifying about that." While the attack came on the heels of others around the region, the degree of violence in Tunisia surprised many and raised new questions about the direction of the country, where an uprising last year forced out its longtime president and set off pro-democracy revolts across the Arab world. Tunisia is now run by the once-banned Islamist party, Ennahda, which has vowed to protect the rights of women and free worship, while building a robust democracy. But the moderate government has since struggled to quell protests by increasingly vocal ultraconservative Muslims known as Salafis. The youth wing of Ennahda said in a statement emailed early Saturday that both the film that incited the protests and the violence should be condemned. The party's statement accused "enemies of the revolution" of turning peaceful demonstrations into destructive mobs and manipulating anger over the film to divide the country and prevent Tunisia from building a robust democracy. "We call on the youth and on all Tunisians to maintain vigilance and unity in order to prevent all attempts at sowing divisions and halting the revolution," the statement said.

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) -- NATO forces in Afghanistan say four international service members have been killed in an apparent insider attack by Afghan police officers. The international alliance says in a statement that the attack happened early Sunday in the volatile southern region of the country. The statement does not provide details other than to say the attack was "suspected to involve members of the Afghan police." The coalition says they are investigating what happened.

BEIJING (AP) -- Protesters in China have begun another day of demonstrations against Japan, after protests over disputed islands spread across numerous cities and at times turned violent. Hundreds of protesters across from the Japanese Consulate in Shanghai chanted and waved banners Sunday asserting that the islands in the East China Sea, which are controlled by Japan, are Chinese. About 50 military police officers carrying shields stood outside the consulate. Tensions have boiled over since Japan's government purchased the islands from their private owners last week. Users couldn't search for "anti-Japan protests" on China's Twitter-like site Sina Weibo on Sunday morning, and many of the previous day's photos had been taken down. The site is regularly censored. Some postings said there were protests planned Sunday in two southern cities and a central one.

TOKYO (AP) -- A powerful typhoon passing over southwestern Japan has left tens of thousands of homes without power and brought transportation to the region by sea and air to a standstill. Japan's Meteorological Agency said Typhoon Sanba crossed over the Okinawan islands on Sunday and was headed toward the Korean Peninsula after dumping heavy rains and whipping Okinawa with powerful winds. It described the typhoon as large and very strong, with gusts of up to 250 kilometers (155 miles) per hour. The agency warned residents to stay indoors. The storm caused flight and ferry cancellations. More than 60,000 homes were without power, according to media reports. NHK, Japan's public broadcaster, showed scenes of flooded houses and roads in Okinawa's main city, but there were no immediate reports of deaths or significant injuries.

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